1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the mechanized harvesting of fruit such as olives and the like. The present invention includes the use of opposing and oscillating rake members provided with tines on extended supports for reaching high into trees. The opposing and oscillating rake members engage a group of small branches and maintain the branches properly placed as the tines of the rakes move under power to strip the fruit from the branches.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The harvesting of olives, and certain other fruits such as cherries and oranges, has mainly been traditionally performed by hand picking, which is a lengthy and thus costly process. As an alternative to hand picking of fruit such as olives, main trunk and limb shakers have been tried with limited success. Main trunk and limb shakers are mechanical devices (machines) which clamp onto the main trunk or main branches of a tree and then vibrate the trunk and thus entire tree or main branch to such a degree that the fruit is shaken off and falls. Trunk or main branch shakers function well with certain varieties of trees such as almonds and pistachios, but do not function well with other varieties such as olives. Olive trees have delicate bark and cambium layers and very brittle limbs compared to almond trees, and additionally, depending upon the age of the olive tree, may have a main trunk having a substantial diameter. Therefore, main trunk or main limb shakers are either damaging to the tree or ineffective for the harvesting of olives. A main trunk or main limb shaker is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,065 for Agricultural Harvester, issued to Ira Compton on Jan. 22, 1991.
As an alternative to hand picking, or the use of main trunk/branch shakers for the picking of fruit such as olives, cherries and other fruits, other types of mechanized pickers have been developed using oscillating rakes having extending tines, and mounted on the end of short handles or long poles which are operated from ground level. One such device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,790, issued to J. C. Tyros on Nov. 9, 1982. The Tyros method and apparatus for picking olives or other fruits, includes a power actuated fingered picking head mounted on the upper end of an elongated handled pole which is manipulated from ground level. The picking head has a built-in hopper with a bottom discharge opening for directing the olives to a ground level receptacle. The hopper is mounted with a power rotated rake-like member having right angular hooked tines which rake the fruit off of the branches and into the hopper. Because the Tyros device utilizes powered moving finger-like extensions mounted on the end of a long support shaft, the Tyros U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,790 is herein incorporated by reference.
Another tool for olive picking is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,637, issued to Franco Drusiani on Mar. 31, 1992. The Drusiani olive picking tool includes an elongated handle having a pneumatic actuator which operates a swinging or pivotal comb provided with tines. The tines are pulled through the branches of the tree and the swinging comb dislodges the fruit, and because of these features, this patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,637, is herein incorporated by reference.
Another fruit stripping tool called "Device for Picking Fruit" was issued as a patent to E. H. Shaff on Aug. 4, 1970 as U.S. Pat. No. 3,522,697. The Shaff fruit picker is a short handled fingered-hand having motor driven oscillating fingers for stripping fruit from trees and bushes. The Shaff device uses soft resilient tines or fingers intended not to damage the fruit, and which are replaceable when worn, and because of these features, the Shaff U.S. Pat. No. 3,522,697 is herein incorporated by reference.
A major disadvantage of the relevant prior art devices mentioned above which use moving tines on rakes, involves the effectiveness of the combs or rakes themselves. It has been found that attempting to insert a single individual rakes into a branch often results in merely pushing the branch away from the rake due to one or more tines hanging up on smaller sections of the branch. The intended purpose of the tines or fingers of the rake is to be inserted between the smaller sections of the branch where the tines are "raked" through the leaves, small branches and fruit. To effectively harvest the fruit from the branches, the tines of the combs or rakes must penetrate interior of the branches where a large portion of the fruit is located. The use of a single rake-like picker having oscillating fingered extensions has the major drawback of having the tendency to push the branches away from the rake-like picking hand. When the tines of the rakes do not penetrate the branches of the trees, then several attempts must be made to accomplish this task or much of the fruit will be left unharvested. These successive attempts are time consuming and therefore costly.